The
holding vehicle for a property can facilitate or complicate the inheritance
process and people with the best interests of their heirs in mind should
be aware of this, said Lanice Steward, MD of the Cape Town estate agency
Anne Porter Knight Frank.

If a property forms part of an estate and is in a close corporation,
a trust or even a company, the beneficiaries will probably have to work
with other cc members, trustees or directors - as well as an executor
- and experience shows that all of these can prove difficult and hold
up the distribution of assets.

The appointment of an executor is particularly important and great
care should be taken to find a reasonable, diplomatic and fair person
with the necessary expertise. The executor is responsible for seeing that
if the estate includes property and it has been decided to sell it the
sale is handled as quickly as possible.

Good executors, said Steward, will liaise with property cognoscenti -
in most cases an experienced estate agent or valuer - to arrive at a market-related
price and will then set the sales process in motion as fast as possible.

Inexperienced or opinionated executors, said Steward, all too often do
not do this. They will fix a non-negotiable price and reject any advice
from the market, in some cases refusing even to discuss the matter with
those who understand the market far better than they do.

Time and again executors have tried to hold out for unrealistic
prices in pursuance of what they conceive to be their duty to the
deceased. This has been known to result in the home sitting on the
market for months - in some cases even years.

Steward added that executors will sometimes also insist on taking up
to 50% of the agents commission - in addition to their fairly substantial
fees - and, in her experience, will also delay and complicate other aspects
of the estate apportionment.

The message, therefore, is clear: for your heirs sake select
an executor - and co-trustees, cc members and directors - who have no
contrary attitudes or hidden agendas and who can be relied on to work
solely for the benefit of your heirs.